


do your best

by Child_of_Harpy



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Gen, Here we go, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-21 01:38:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16149830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Child_of_Harpy/pseuds/Child_of_Harpy
Summary: "Don't forget me, Reyn.""Why would I?"





	do your best

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ohmygoshwhatascream](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygoshwhatascream/gifts).



They spend the day together, he and Shulk, walking around the colony and doing nothing in particular. They go swimming, they eat curry, admire the ether lamps made from the new colored ether imported from up the bionis, they go to outlook park and sing old songs about fame and plundering, the history of the homs on the ether sea.

They watch the sunset sitting on the cliff over the lake just outside Tephra cave, watch it and talk about nothing. Cicadas hum lowly from somewhere, seeming to be the only sound for miles.

They turn to look at each other and Shulk has a scary look on his face.

"Hey, if you had a day left to live, what would you do with it?" 

He thinks about the question before he answers, thoughts here and there of why Shulk would ask that.

"Well, I s'pose I'd spend it with all the people I love. S'not much else I could do, is there?"

Shulk nods just a little, eyes subdued blue reflecting blood red light.

"Huh. I wasn't expecting something so... I dunno, defeatist, from you. But, truth be told, I'd probably do that too."

They sit a while longer, the sun falls beneath the horizon, seeming to be swallowed by the ocean. The cicadas hum lowly, seeming to be the only sound for miles around them. They both stand up to move, to go back to their houses. The dirt shifts underneath their feet as they walk down the path. 

"Reyn."

He turns to face Shulk.

He's got a scary look on his face.

Shulk hesitates before speaking.

"Make sure to do your stretches tonight, yeah?"

He makes a face at that, confused by the request.

"Uh, yeah, sure? Y'know I never forget."

Shulk smiles a bit.

"You've forgotten before."

It doesn't seem to reach his eyes.

Eventually they get back to Shulk's home in the military district, the long tunnel entrance to the labs seeming to wait for the chance to swallow Shulk up. Their eyes meet and they say the usual "goodbye"s and "see you later"s, Shulk smiling fondly as they do before turning to walk into the lab.

Tomorrow afternoon, everything goes to hell. 

The mechon reappear after two years of absence and wreak havoc on the colony, cutting down soldiers and civilians alike, destroying buildings. There are fires everywhere, the scents of blood and smoke and metal swimming in the air.

In between it all, he fights to protect whoever he can, fights to find Shulk in all the chaos.

He finds him bleeding out, trapped under the rubble of some building.

Shulk's breath comes out shallow, (it sounds like cicadas).

He fights to speak, both of them do.

In the end, Shulk is the only one who ends up getting any words out.

"take it"

In Reyn's memories, those words seem more like echoes of a thought than words but even so, he can so clearly picture Shulk's bloodstained lips moving to speak them.

That is what he focuses on as he wraps the sword in cloth so it won't burn him, he focuses on that as he pretends to mourn at the funeral (he has no time for that, he has to _go_ ) he focuses on that as he steps out of the colony, Fiora by his side and Dunban promising to follow.

But, just underneath the memory of that moment-

little vignettes of sun-drenched days spent with his friends, those are what really keep him going.

**Author's Note:**

> so i guess i might have left some stuff up to interpretation
> 
> if you have any questions, i'll answer them if you ask me in the comments
> 
> of course also feel free to comment telling me how weird or bad this is or if you liked it (fat chance of that)
> 
> i guess *i'm* okay with how it turned out but im such an amateur writer that i don't really feel comfortable saying other people will probably like it? not that you really need to know
> 
> anyway hope you had fun or whatever


End file.
